Recipe For Grilled Lime and Chipotle Pork Chops

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, July 2013.) Summer grilling is in full swing at my new house, and I recently made these Grilled Lime and Chipotle Pork Chops for a delicious dinner, and also so I could re-do the photos. (One of the best things about food blogging is the way you get to eat your work!) The marinade used here was adapted from a recipe I found years ago on the Best Foods site, and since the recipe Idea came from Best Foods, this marinade does contain mayo. If the idea of marinating meat in mayo seems odd, keep in mind you're actually eating very little of the marinade and it really keeps the pork chops juicy when they're grilled. A recipe like this is one of the few places I'd use dried cilantro, but if you need to substitute fresh cilantro, be sure it's very finely chopped. I decreased the amount of mayo and increased the lime juice and added cumin, which I think really works well with the combination of cilantro, lime, and Chipotle. Hope you enjoy!

Trim the fat from the pork chops. (I used those thick pork chops you get at Costco, but this would be delicious with bone-in pork chops as well. I made half the marinade and had a package with only 3 chops in the freezer, so I used those.)

Use a heavy meat mallet to pound the chops until they're an even 1/2 inch thick.

This shows the difference between a pounded pork chops on the right and the unpounded one on the left. Pounding the meat is a good job for teenage boys if you have any around!

While the grill heats to medium-high, let the pork chops come to room temperature.

Lay pork chops at an angle across the grill grates to get those criss-cross marks.

Lift the corner of one pork chops to check the grill marks, and when they're dark enough rotate to go the opposite direction and cook a few minutes more.

When you have nice grill marks, finish the pork chops with a few minutes on the other side. I always use a digital instant-read meat thermometer to be sure the pork isn't overcooked, since pork chops like this can quickly become dry on the grill. (New USDA guidelines for pork say cook to 145F with a 3 minute rest time before eating.)

And here's the photo of this recipe from 2008, which was not as bad as some of my earlier photos, but definitely had room for improvement!

Grilled Lime and Chipotle Pork Chops(Makes 8 servings, but can easily be cut in half. Recipe originally adapted from a recipe by Best Foods; I can no longer find that recipe online.)

Ingredients:
8 pork chops 1/2 inch thick
(I used the giant boneless pork chops from Costco and pounded them to be 1/2 inch thick. You can also use bone-in pork chops.)

Trim most of the fat from pork chops; then put them one at a time into a small freezer bag and pound with a meat mallet (or something heavy) until each pork chop is about 1/2 inch thick. Arrange pork chops in single layer in a large Ziploc bag.

Mix mayo, lime juice, dried cilantro, minced garlic, onion powder, ground Chipotle pepper, and ground cumin to make the marinade and pour over the pork chops. Marinate all day (or at least 6 hours) in the refrigerator. If you're home you can turn them a few times, but it's not essential.

To cook, take pork chops out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature while you spray the clean grill with oil or non-stick spray, then preheat gas or charcoal grill to medium high. (You can only hold your hand there a few seconds at that heat.)

Lay pork chops at an angle to the grill grates and cook until you see nice grill marks on the first side, about 3-4 minutes. (I usually lift up one and see how the marks look before I rotate them. When you see good marks, rotate the pork so it's going the opposite angle on the grill grates and cook 3-4 minutes more. When you have good marks going both ways, turn chops over and cook 2-3 minutes more, or slightly longer if your chops are especially thick. (I always use a digital instant-read meat thermometerto be sure the pork isn't overcooked, since pork chops like this can quickly become dry on the grill. New USDA guidelines for pork say cook to 145F with a 3 minute rest time.)

When the meat has reached 145F (or is nicely browned and firm to the touch when you press down on it) remove from grill and let rest 3 minutes; then serve hot.

Nutritional Information?
I chose the South Beach Diet to manage
my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or
fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I
recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

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Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

24 comments:

Obviously this recipe is yet to be discovered, because that's the only comment from June 2005 to May 2008. Photos really are important! I need to cook this again soon so I can improve this photo, but the pork chops were delicious.

Lime, chipotle and cilantro are my fave go-to bbq flavours. I never thought to add mayo though, what a great idea. Sort of like adding yogurt for Indian marinades, it must tenderize the meat nicely. I use canned chipotle in adobo, yum.

I just discovered your blog, and I just love all your recipes! This one is definitely one I'll try within the next few weeks. That tomato salad is just gorgeous!

I'm in phase I of South Beach (which is how I found your blog), but looking forward to the time when I can be in the place you are - 40 pounds lighter with healthy eating habits. Thanks for the inspiration!

This marinade sounds great and it wil be tried at the next family event! Lime and chipotle, yum..

If you ever have enough notice to do a little advance prepwork, I have found that brining pork chops is a marvelous trick for keeping them flavorful and very moist. There are lots of different recipes, etc for brining but approx. 1 cup salt (plus 1 c sugar if you like, and/or spices) to 1 gallon water is good. For pork chops, keep in fridge overnightish, rinse twice and enjoy tender moist chops! Fun to experiment with!

Vegeturtle, I'd love to find a good brine recipe for pork. Most have sugar, which I don't want, and Splenda in a brine seems just wrong. I tried it once on a pork roast and it was just too salty. I have heard it keeps the meat moist though.

Hi Kalyn, love the blog, it's making phase 1 livable! I'm cooking up another batch of tamari chickpeas as I type. I don't know if we did something wrong, but we made these chops tonight and they were totally bland which really surprised me. My guy swears he followed the recipe exactly and marinated the chops overnight but they had no flavor whatsoever. They were pretty thick cut chops, maybe that's the problem? All of your other recipes have been outstanding so far, thank you so much!

Steph, did you follow this part of the instructions: "pound slightly until all are about 1/2 inch thick"? That would be my guess, that if the pork chops were too thick the marinade didn't penetrate, but they were great when I made them.

Noooo, we didn't! That's definitely what the problem was. We're going to do another round in a few days with the extra chops we bought and I'll let you know how they turn out when we do em right this time : ) I'm sure they'll be as awesome as everything else we've made from your recipes. Thanks for the response, Kalyn, and please keep the recipes coming!

Thanks for joining the conversation! I love hearing from readers and even though I can't always reply to every comment, I will always answer specific questions on a recipe as soon as possible. Sometimes I'm answering by iPhone, so my replies may be short!

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